RCP is excited to announce its investment in Azadyne - a spin-out from Trinity College Dublin, based on research into Queuine, a micronutrient. RCP partnered with the Kent Life Sciences Fund to take a meaningful stake in this very early stage IP-based bio-tech company.

Dr Jason Rutt, the CEO of Azadyne remarked, “Our approach to autoimmune disease has the capacity to provide treatment to a number of diseases with no cure, including MS. “

“This is a prime opportunity to shepherd emerging research out into the world and make a significant impact,” said Adam Park, COO of RCP.

The Kent Life Sciences Fund, represented by Jonathan Synett, CIO added: “Azadyne’s approach to auto-immune disease is unique, and has the potential to be a game changer, in a huge area of unmet need.”

The Opportunity

There are over 30 specific autoimmune diseases with no known cure, that affect around 10% of the world’s population. Current therapies focus on symptom management, but are often poorly tolerated. An agent which has utility for treating many autoimmune diseases represents a significant commercial opportunity.

Rapidly proliferating cells such as the excessive number of T-cells found in autoimmune disease have been found to be queuine deficient. The research work at TCD by the three Founders has developed a synthetic queuine which potentially dampens down an autoimmune responses. The initial focus has 5 targets: MS, RA, IBS, Ps neurodegenerative issues.

The roadmap for Azadyne is long - it will take several years before the full benefits of this research are felt in medical outcomes - but RCP and the Kent Life Sciences Fund are committed to supporting this important work.

Centauri- focused on the discovery and development of novel molecules targeting life threatening diseases.

RCP also made two exits at a premium in 2018, FCFM and Two Chicks.

Going forward, RCP will continue to focus on innovative businesses that are looking for funding to support their growth.

We expect to announce some exciting new investments in early 2019.

Real Estate

RCP started work on two new projects in 2018, the Penthouse and Commercial unit at Randall Court.

RCP are actively searching for the next development project in London and the surrounding counties, with a focus on creating premium quality homes.

Renaissance Capital PartnersLtd. is a private company established in 2008 to invest funds in high-growth, innovative and entrepreneurial businesses. It now has a diverse investment portfolio across various industries including Health, Fund Management, Clean Tech, Media and Real Estate Development.

RCP is in the venture capital business, which means that several of the investments we make don't follow the plan we share with the Founder. Sometimes they outright fail, sometimes they pivot into a new direction, but many times they just don't hit an inflection growth point.

In the past, we’ve written about why we’ve made an investment or how we want to see the business grow.

Today, I want to write about a follow-on investment that we passed on. We will keep it anonymous and straightforward.

To set the context: A company we invested in a few years back, was now raising more funding to extend their runway to profitability. The business thesis hadn’t changed over the intervening years, and the company hadn’t developed the traction within its market. So, we began to evaluate this follow-on funding opportunity.

Because of our earlier investment, we understood the technology and management team. We met with CEO and Chair, looking to understand what lessons they had learned over the last few years, how the marketplace had changed, and what their plans were going forward.

And then we declined to follow our original investment in the follow-on round.

Why? Two reasons:

First, the CEO and Chair didn’t convince us that their technology was on the edge of widespread adoption. In our view, the marketplace was making a judgement about their technology relative to the competing technologies, and deciding the competitors held better technology. Generally, it’s better to trust the marketplace over your own view of tech adoption in a situation like this.

Second, and more importantly, we have competing uses for our capital. When we evaluate investments, we need to compare alternative uses for those funds. Should we put funds into a new start-up, back an existing investment or keep our powder dry for a sunny day?

In this instance, the drawbacks outweigh the positives. We kept the powder dry for a future investment.

At RCP, we get involved with and monitor our portfolio companies at various levels. For some we hold Investor Director Board seats; for others, we just get irregular, informal updates. For others, we've found ourselves intimately involved in operational management when the situation calls for it.

In this post, I wanted to give a taste of what we expect and aim for when it comes to reporting on and valuing our portfolio.

Our relationship with Founders begins just after the initial investment. We try to meet regularly and get trackable information, so we can follow the trajectory of the business. Ideally, we come away with concrete, objective data that we can use to create some value markers. The question we want to answer: Is it growing in some form- revenue, net profit, customers, etc- and tracking to its projections. A solid measure is ever increasing valuations at fundraising points.

We maintain a Portfolio Tracker so that we can monitor, reflect and project these data points. This gives us some level of comparison over time and a method to value our entire portfolio, albeit imperfectly.

There are some added benefits to this reporting. We can prepare for risks, cash calls, exits and get more involved operationally to help the business.

What are some of the issues to overcome:

Irregular data- as startups, some companies are constantly refining their management information presentation.

Inconsistent access over time- With one company, we held observer rights for Board meetings, then when a large VCs came in, we gave up our position (quite rightly), and we now have a less complete view.

Valuation objectivity- It's possible to use revenue and net income numbers for valuation, but may not give a true market picture. And even the last fund raise valuation may be misleading because it may be dated or over-inflated.

The nature of the beast in early VC investing is constantly changing management information. Hopefully, that is down to growth; sometimes it's not. We just want to make sure we're keeping an open line of communication and getting some sense of value inflection points.

A key focus for RCP is on making the world a better place through emerging biotechnology. We want to fund start-ups who are developing key technology in the fight against cancer and other debilitating diseases.

Over the last few years, we’ve backed the strong management teams fighting big problems. Here is a sample:

TC BioPharm is currently developing the closest to market drug candidate in Gamma Delta T cell therapies. These cells are naturally-occurring within the human body, inducing one of the first lines of defense against infectious disease. Their work focuses on priming these cells to attack and destroy pathogens within the body. Why is this important? Because TCBio is harnessing the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.

Centauri Therapeutics is developing new ways to treat bacterial infections. Many infections nowadays are resistant to existing antibiotics. Centauri is bringing to market new ways for the immune system to find and destroy bacteria and cancers. Why is this important? Bacterial infections are responsible for the deaths of 700,000 people worldwide a year.

Micrima has developed the MARIA breast cancer screening system. This imaging system uses harmless radio-waves to detect breast cancer, unlike mammography that uses ionising radiation. The process gives a clearer picture and is less invasive than the current methodology. Why is this important? Because it helps doctors find and treat tumors more quickly by reducing the false positives in current screening.

And we've been looking at other companies doing things like-

· Developing 3D printing for orthodontics.

· Dendritic cell therapies for tumor reduction.

· Technologies that reactivate the immune system to fight cancer.

So, if you’re developing new technologies in this space, get in touch. We want to support emerging biotech efforts to make the world a better place.

RCP saw a successful close to 2017, both in venture capital and real estate development.

This post is a review of what we did to support our investment strategy over the last 12 months. Chief Operating Officer Adam Park commented “The year presented several great opportunities- for investing, realising gains and solidifying our niche in what we do”.

Venture Capital:

RCP continued it’s focus over the last 12 months on high growth, innovative businesses. We put to work close to £2.2m in new and existing businesses, both in the form of equity and convertible debt. At the end of 2017, the portfolio was conservatively valued at approximately £7m. Highlights included-

· Backing a convertible note in TC Biopharm, which is focused on beta delta t-cells and their fight against cancer.

· Joining the management company for NCL Technology Ventures, to leverage our investing thesis in the life sciences sector.

Going forward, RCP will build upon it’s focus on emerging technologies that make lives better and emphasise life sciences as a theme for it’s venture capital investments.

Real Estate

RCP continued to improve the built environment in and around London in 2017. Our development portfolio saw significant milestones through the-

· Selling of the remaining flats at our Randall Court development in Elephant & Castle.

· Tendering and construction of the Penthouse and Commercial unit at Randall Court.

· Final works on Park View, ready for marketing in the Spring 2018.

All of these helped markedly increase the profitability of our projects over the last 3 years.

With funds to recycle into further development projects, RCP put a half-dozen potential sites through our development appraisal process. Most of these didn’t show the necessary ROI to take forward. But, with dry powder and a buyer’s market, we’re confident that 2018 will unearth several possibilities.

The built environment of London, and the surrounding counties, is an emerging theme for our development portfolio. In 2018, RCP will look to focus on bringing premium quality homes to the residents of London.

Renaissance Capital PartnersLtd. is a private company established in 2008 to invest funds in high-growth, innovative and entrepreneurial businesses. It now has a diversified investment portfolio across various industries including Healthcare, FCFM, Media, Clean Tech and real estate development.

PROVIDING AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECYCLE FUNDS INTO GROWTH SECTORS

Renaissance Capital Partners, a leading-edge family office, completed a sizeable di-investment out of FC Fund Management, a distressed opportunity fund based in London, it announced today. RCP’s decision followed a restructuring of the ownership of the FCFM business, which will allow RCP to further expand its pipeline of innovative investments. RCP had supported the business through several investment rounds, over several years.

Mark Randall, Managing Director of RCP, remarked “This was an excellent opportunity to realise a great profit, and move money into other high-growth opportunities. We constantly scan our investment horizon for opportunities that balance risk and reward.”

With an expanding pipeline of opportunities, RCP is looking forward to putting the recycled funds to work. It’s current holdings in bio-tech are gaining momentum and the remaining portfolio is showing growth.

Renaissance Capital PartnersLtd. is a private company established in 2008 to invest funds in high-growth, innovative and entrepreneurial businesses. It now has a diversified investment portfolio across various industries including Robotics, Healthcare, Location Based Services, Clean Tech and Telecoms.

Building an innovative fund management business

Renaissance Capital Partners, a leading edge family office, completed a sizable investment into NCL Technology Ventures, a venture fund management business based in London, it announced today. The investment followed a restructuring of the management business to position it to further expand its pipeline of innovative investments. NCL and RCP have worked together in the past to bring start-up businesses to fruition, in areas such as bio-technology.

Mark Randall, Managing Director of RCP, remarked “This is a prime opportunity to support NCL as it uncovers the next big investments in the UK. RCP is always on the look-out for opportunities to bring good to the world.”

NCL will use funds from this investment round to fortify its position as the go-to fundraiser and advisor for emerging technology businesses in Kent and the wider area. Jerry Biggs, CEO, comments that “NCL’s ambition is to become the UK’s leading technology investment and advisory boutique.”

Renaissance Capital PartnersLtd. is a private company established in 2008 to invest funds in high-growth, innovative and entrepreneurial businesses. It now has a diversified investment portfolio across various industries including Robotics, Healthcare, Location Based Services, Clean Tech and Telecoms.

NCL Technology Ventures’ investment philosophy is set to identify high potential technology SMEs within thematic global growth sectors. By applying both experience and capital at an earlier stage than most typical funds, NCL can identify exciting companies, enhance survival rates and extract superior value for our investors.

Follow-on investment will pave way for emerging battery tech

Renaissance Capital Partners, a leading edge family office, completed a £500,000 investment into AMTE Ltd, an emerging energy storage business, it announced today. This investment followed an earlier seed round investment, and was in conjunction with sizable investment from other sources. AMTE will use the funds to push forward its next generation battery technology.

Mark Randall, Managing Director of RCP, remarked “We look forward to supporting Kevin and his team as AMTE commercializes its technology, and brings these next gen benefits to UK industry. RCP always looks for disruptive technology that can help make the world a better place.”

AMTE will use funds from this investment round to build on earlier success with sodium ion battery technology and its links to the automotive sector. Kevin commented that “the support our investor base has shown puts AMTE in a strong position to deliver on its business plan”.

Renaissance Capital PartnersLtd. is a private company established in 2008 to invest in high-growth, innovative and entrepreneurial businesses. It now has a diversified investment portfolio across various industries including Robotics, Healthcare, Location Based Services, Clean Tech and Telecoms.

AMTE Power Ltd. is actively developing and producing cells through its development and production company AGM Batteries, based in the heart of Scotlands renewable energy community. It's unique facility enables customers to scale and transfer emerging new cell technologies to manufacture.